Petition of Kate T. F. Cornell Praying for the Removal of her Political Disabilities

In this petition to Congress, Kate Cornell requests a relief from her political disabilities. This petition was part of a petition drive organized by the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) calling for a constitutional amendment that would give women the right to vote. The petition closely follows a template provided by NWSA (an example of this type is the Petition of Dr. Clemence Lozier). The organization encouraged women to personalize their messages to Congress by including their personal reasons for desiring the the right to vote. In her petition, Kate Cornell argues that women have been oppressed by man-made laws and that women should have a voice in making laws. She also expresses a desire to have a say in what is done with the taxes she pays.

This petition was referred to to the Committee on the Judiciary in the House of Representatives on February 7, 1878. On January 10, 1878 Senator Aaron Sargent first introduced the joint resolution for an amendment to the Constitution that would ultimately extend the right to vote to women as the 19th Amendment, 42 years later. Petitions like this one from Kate Cornell show how women exercised their rights to bring about change in the decades-long fight for the right to vote.

Transcript

Petition of Mrs. Kate T F Cornell
Alexandria, Jan. 4th 1878
For the Relief From Political Disabilities

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, Mrs. Kate T. F. Cornell a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the State of Nebraska, County of Thayer, Town of Alexandria, Hereby respectfully petition your honorable body for the removal of her political disabilities, and that she may be declared invested with full power to exercise her right of self-government at the ballot-box, all state constitutions or statute laws to the contrary notwithstanding.

I claim that we have been oppressed in the past by man-made laws and that as we have to be subject to the laws of our Country it would be just and right that we should have a voice in making them. I pay tax, and am not satisfied with what is done with the money. I hold it is my god-given right to say what shall be done with my earnings I have sighned [sic] the Sixteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution prohibiting the Several States from disfranchising United States Citizens on account of sex.

Mrs. Kate T F Cornell



Petition
of
Kate T. F. Cornell
a citizen of
Alexandria
Thayer Co.
Nebraska
Praying for the removal
of her political disabilities.
Hon. Frank Welch
Feby 7 1878
Referred to the Committee on
the Judiciary.
Judy